I took the matter into more personal hands, I *bleep*ing hate vampires so naturally I chose the Dawnguard. And on the character I was originally going for a Sword and Board with a bit of Restoration character, but I picket up a Crossbow and watched my archery skill skyrocket, I over doubled it within the main Dawnguard questline im sure. And with exploding *bleep*ing bolts...yeah. I like explosions, so I like the Dawnguard. And vampires are all emo-ey and their castle is ugly, and Gargoyles give me the creeps. Oh, Dawnguard has Armored *bleep*ing Trolls and HUSKIES. *bleep*ING HUSKIES.

Loved the Vampire Lord myself. Haven't given the hunter a try though, honestly. I know I loved every single perk from the Vampire Lord tree and I found myself using it Much more than I ever have the werewolf form.

I always like to play as a Heroic/Good Character, so my obvious choice was the Dawnguard path, which did not disappoint in the least. The entire Auriel Quest reminded me of a certain quest to become a Paladin, which I enjoyed immensely.

The way I see it, if you typically Role-Play as a Villainous Character, you'll most definitely always choose the path of power and destruction, like the Vampire Lord or Werewolf. I think there is enough evil in Skyrim already, and when you give someone a helpful answer, they seem astonished that you actually care enough to help people. It all depends on personal preference and play-style.

I have completed Dawnguard on three characters and always choose to side with the Dawnguard.

I just dont like the many downsides of vampirism. One of my characters is a werewolf and i enjoy that much more than the vampire lord. I have accepted vampirism to get into the soul cairn on my mage character but quickly got annoyed with the constant prompts and feeding and cured it afterwards.

My new character is an evil Dunmer assasin. So i'll probably give vampirism another try and side with Harkon and his cronies this time.

Also, a major issue of mine is thate the vampire lord looks kinda silly. The first time i played dawnguard and met Harkon he made such a big deal out of his transformation yet i buckled over laughing when he transformed. It just looks a bit... naff.

I much prefer being a werewolf. They look awesome. On my last charcter i frequently used Beast Form + Ring of Hircine against Vampires. The running power attack makes for some hilarious fights.

I've played both, and on my Dunmer Wizard I'm playing now I will go vampires. A side quest gets you 2 rings, which 1 Gives you 100 health in and out of vamp lord form + extra claw attack damage. And a ring that gives 100 extra magika in and out of vamp lord and extra magika regen.

you can go through the story of dawngaurd cause in my opinion its better and at the end of the quests Serana offers you to change sides (to vamp) so you can do any storyline and still become what race you want

Vampire Hunter, and there are several reasons for this.Hunters get the following benefits: Dog followers, Armored Troll followers, Crossbows which can later be upgraded and enchanted, a new set of mediocre yet neat looking armor, and some spells called Vampire's Bane, Stendarr's Aura, and Sun FireWhile this may not seem to be too big a deal, it has hidden significance over the Vampire benefits, which I'll go over later. The Dogs that you can purchase for a follower Max their level out at 25, with 340 Health, 220 Stamina, 55 One Handed, 75 Block, 20 Unarmed. The Trolls Max their level out at 14 with 280 Health, 340 Stamina, 200 Armor, 36 One Handed, 46 Block, 35 Unarmed. The downfall to these monsters, is that when one dies or leaves your party it must be purchased again, for 500 Gold. There are also several human followers that are not available to the Vampire side.The Vampire Lord has the following benefits: The Vampire Lord ability, allowing you to become a vampire lord for magic and melee, however, for the duration of this questline, there is a glitch where when Serana is your follower, your Vampire Lord damage counter, is reduced to almost nothing, and you also do not regain Health, Magicka, or Stamina in the day as a vampire. You also have access to the Heal Undead spell, which I'm not sure you will find usefull, but who knows. The Vampire Lord perk tree gives a perk that lets you summon a Gargoyle as a follower. The final found benefit is the Death founds you can recruit as followers.The Death hounds max their level only at 5, with 146 Health, 114 Stamina, 23 One Handed, 21 Block, and 10 Unarmed. Another downfall besides the extreme difference in stats between the dogs, is that they are killed very quickly when you are a Vampire Lord as they are vulnerable to your attacks. While that may not seem like a problem, it is more than you think as there are only 2 Hounds you can recruit, and once they're both dead, you can recruit no more. The Gargoyles however, Max their level at 13, with 240 Health, 90 Stamina, 250 Armor, 41 One Handed, 33 Block, and 20 Unarmed. This is neck in neck with armored trolls stat wise, but Gargoyles can be recruited whenever you want, whether one disappears for some reason or it dies, which is arguably preffered over the Trolls, which do more damage, yet have less Armor. If both are kept alive however, the Troll is ultimately better, due to Level, Health, Stamina, and the other beneficial stats.The choice is yours, however it's clear that the Dawnguard are a far better choice based on this information

-------------------"Time passes, people move. Like a river’s flow, it never ends. A childish mind will turn to noble ambition. Young love will become deep affection. The clear water’s surface reflects growth. Now listen to the Serenade of Water to reflect upon yourself"

Hi guys. I'm really long in skyrim right now, play since release. I had many characters and classes from mage to assasin and now the time has come for worrior like one. Well... i decided to empathize with my char as a title "Dragonborn", generally good guy saving world from dragons etc however i'm not good in 100% as i desire really great power. After buying dragonborn dlc i started prepare to final "epic" battle with Miraak. I got Konahrik mask, full dragonbone armor and 2h sword and now i stand before really hard decision to be or not to be the vampire lord. ( it is worth mentioning that i already done dawnguard dlc as hunters and i feel strange playing as vampire lord ) Well. Idk if i should "go get" my op powers and play as VL or stay human and play as hunters. Miraak is also a dragonbord and what is for VL is that he has connections with deadric lord Hermaeus Mora so i think it would be fair enough if i would have some too with for example Molag Bal hmm ? On the other hand being a vampire has greater effect on actual character of mine ( appereance, weaknesses etc. ) which there's no for Miraak. We can say that my play style is rather "role play", i focus on exploration and lore empathizing with most of my characters and it is really hard decision for me to make. So the great question of the day is: "To be or not to be the Vampire Lord" in my case of course .

PS. - I readed all of your comments in this topic but i'm still unsure so it would be great if you could help me even a little bit.

i was torn but while i was walking around Whiterun and saw vampires attcking people at the front gate, 1 guy fell before i got there and later found out it was Plegia (dont know the spelling) i loved that guy, thought he was awesome, always willing to give me money for my crappy crops, became a hunter for him

gonna start another charater that chooses vampire lord just to see what its like

If you fancy the best of both worlds you can do the dawngaurd quests and at the end talk to serena who you befriended in the first mission and ask her to make you a vampire lord.to do this you must not in the questline undo her vampirism if not this will not work.by doing this you get awsome crossbows and you get to be the epic vampire lords but you cant enter dawngaurd again unless you undo the vampire lord perk. but you can become a vampire unlimited timesby going back to serena.hope this helped.